In recent years, mobile electronic devices have become ubiquitous. Many of these mobile electronic devices include a camera and a wireless receiver. The wireless receiver may be capable of receiving transmissions associated, among others, one or more Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), Bluetooth®, Bluetooth® Low Energy, and/or radio frequency identification (RFID). Frequently, consumers are in a hurry while shopping and therefore either purchase the wrong item (e.g., not correct size or desired color) or forego the purchase altogether.
One solution presented requires users to scan a barcode with their mobile device, such as a phone or tablet. The barcode is then typically required to pair with an application on the mobile device specific to a retail store. However, many retail stores do not have specific applications providing the capability of determining an item based on a barcode and some items may not have a barcode that is easily accessible (e.g., jewelry often has barcode obscured either by display position or by display case).
In addition, a consumer may not have sufficient time to approach the item, find the barcode and take a picture of it. Often times, a consumer is rushed while in a store due to the schedule of others they are with or the desire to be elsewhere (e.g., watching a sports event instead of spending time in the souvenir shop).
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.